


Homeward?

by Stariceling



Category: Beyblade
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-16
Updated: 2012-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-06 04:28:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/731433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the very end of season one. Max has a difficult decision to make, and turns to perhaps the most unexpected person for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homeward?

“Hey Kai?”

Kai looked up, surprised in spite of himself. Max had been silent for most of the morning. He’d packed the night before, and his bag was waiting on the edge of his bed. Usually he joined Tyson in packing after breakfast, the two of them rushing around frantically and inevitably getting their clothes mixed up in each other’s bags.

Leaving aside the unexpected tidiness, the fact that Kai had found him here in the room when he came back from breakfast was not normal for Max. He should be down with the rest of their teammates–or was it former teammates already?–eating and laughing and dragging out the last of the time before they had to leave.

“What?” Kai answered.

Kai studied Max, who was sitting on his bed with his back against the headboard and his knees up under his chin. He considered the possibility that Max had made himself sick at dinner last night, then tried to remember where Kenny would have packed the stomach medicine.

“Where are you going to go? Now that the tournament’s over, I mean.”

Kai didn’t have an answer. He’d had so much on his mind lately, and now that it was all over he had no real idea what came next. He had been completely focused on the tournament and nothing else, leaving the time after to take care of itself.

“Are you going to stay here?”

“No!” It came out more vehement than Kai had expected. There was no way he was staying here, not with his grandfather. This wasn’t home anymore. He wasn’t sure it would ever be again.

“Are you going back to Japan?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where would you like to go?”

“Why are you asking?”

Max curled and uncurled his toes against the comforter, then put his legs down and sat up suddenly.

“I still don’t know where I’m going,” he blurted out. “Because mom said I could come live with her and she’d definitely have a place for me and that the whole team would be glad to have me. But then dad said I could go home with him and he’d teach me more about building beyblades and I should be starting school properly anyway. And they always just. . . they’re being so nice at each other about it. They keep telling me, ‘it should be your decision,’ but I don’t want to decide! It’s not right to just decide like that!”

Kai was silent while Max spilled the whole thing out. He was more startled at the vehement explosion of words than anything, but the next thing Max said made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.

“I’ve never even seen them fight, y’know? And it’s not like they can’t talk to each other. Mom still calls all the time to see how we’re doing, and dad always calls her back. So why can’t we all just be together again?”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” Max admitted, “But Tyson’s definitely going home, and Ray’s definitely going home, and the Chief is definitely going home. . . and I thought maybe if I knew what you decided I would be able to figure it out too.”

“Don’t compare us,” Kai snapped. He didn’t want to hear Max cry about having two people who wanted him, and he wanted even less to hear about someone else’s family problems. This was not a problem he knew how to approach, let alone fix. “Just pick one.”

“I can’t.”

Okay, fine. Max probably just didn’t want to be the bad guy by picking one parent over the other. Kai took half a second to think about it. He remembered how hard Max had fought to earn his mother’s approval and respect, how he’d practically danced with joy showing off the new beyblade she’d designed for him.

“Go with your mom, then.”

“But I can’t just abandon my dad! He’s been looking after me all this time!”

“Then go with your dad.”

“But if I do that I don’t even know when I’ll get to see mom again! I miss her already thinking about not being able to see her for that long!”

That was about all the patience Kai had. He went back to packing up his toiletries, intending to ignore Max if the other boy couldn’t even decide how to solve his own problem.

Max didn’t seem to have the slightest idea that he was being ignored. At least he stopped protesting. Instead he started to reason with himself out loud.

“If I go home with dad I’ll be able to hang out with Tyson and the Chief again. I always wanted to have close friends like you guys and be able to stay with them instead of moving around, but. . . if I go with mom I know I’ll be able to learn so much more.”

A pause while Max thought, his head down and his face hidden. Not that Kai meant to try and study his face. “Is that bad? Kai?”

“What?” Kai found himself asking again.

“I know if I go to America with mom I’ll be able to learn so much more about beyblading. I know I can still reach a much higher level than I’m at right now. I want to find new opponents and get stronger and stronger. Is that bad? Just. . . deciding for myself like that?”

“You don’t have to justify it to me.”

Max laughed while Kai turned away, making sure everything was tucked away properly in his bag.

“Kai?”

“What?” Kai thought he should really stop answering, but it was automatic.

“Thanks. I really mean it. And sorry for bugging you. I’m not sure I could have talked it out with anyone else.”

“It’s nothing.” Kai put his bag out of the way of the inevitable panicked packing tornado that was Tyson. He was ready to leave at any time. “I’ve been able to decide what I want to do too, just now.”

“Really? That’s great! What is it?”

“I’ll let you know when I’m settled.”

“Aw. . . Kai!”

Before Max could start wheedling at him, Tyson burst into the room with the Chief right behind him. He was right in the middle of admonishing Tyson on how little time he had left until their ride to the airport would arrive. It was such a familiar scene that Kai didn’t even blink.

“Hey Max, how come you didn’t go down to breakfast?”

“Oh no! I completely forgot! You didn’t eat it all already, did you Tyson?”

Max didn’t even wait for an answer before he jumped up from the bed, ducked around Ray (who had returned at a calmer pace), and ran off down the hall.

“What happened to him?”

“Stomach ache,” Kai lied. “He must be feeling better now.”

In the next minute Max’s behavior was forgotten as Tyson ran around trying to pack, dogged by the Chief’s countdown of how little time he had before they were leaving, and threats that they really would leave him behind this time if he didn’t hurry up. Kai picked up his bag and moved into the hall to be well out of the way, while Ray stepped around him into the bathroom to brush his teeth. They both easily ignored the familiar commotion.

With no real distraction, Kai returned to his own thoughts. It had really only struck him while hearing the conviction in Max’s voice as he decided he wanted to get better at beyblading more than anything else. Kai wasn’t sure he wanted to battle anymore. He had become strong enough to defeat his own demons. He had given up Black Dranzer of his own free will. He had even lost Dranzer, and it hadn’t been the end of his world. Even though he would never give Dranzer up to anyone else now, he wasn’t sure he needed to battle anymore. There was nothing left for him to prove.

Maybe he would try real life, whatever that turned out to be. Try ‘starting school properly’ as Max’s father had suggested. Try making his own way in the world in an ordinary way, instead of training and fighting to stand as the best in the world.

He might even tell Max and the others about this decision once he was settled in. Right now, even though they were all going their separate ways, he wasn’t in the mood to face the surprise that would come at just how separate his own way would look right now.

Max had been right. Everyone else was going home. Even Max would be going home, never mind that it was a new home. Kai wasn’t sure if that word fit the vague plans he had in mind for his own future, but at least he knew he was going somewhere.


End file.
